Tag Archives: find a job

How fast can you find a new job and get your career back on track?

Posted on February 15, 2016 | Leave a comment
steam engine crashed out of a building

Getting your career back on track? It depends on where you are right now.

How fast can you find a new job?  Let’s talk about the Beatles.  They were an overnight sensation….except for the years they spent playing clubs in Germany and England.  Years lost to the world.

I bet you know a guy who quit and had a new job a week later.  He wasn’t even looking when he quit.  He told you so, and he wouldn’t exaggerate.  So how long will it take you to get a new job? No one knows.

The best way to find a job (It actually speeds things up)

The best thing to do is keep your current job and start looking.  Use your network.  The first thing to ask them is not, “Find me a job,” but, “How’s the job market?”  Get the people you know to tell you how long it took for their acquaintances to find a job.  This will tell your network to keep their eyes open.

Be careful how widely you let it be known you are looking for a job.  If you are employed, use your network, recruiters and respond to ads.  LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, CareerBuilder, and others are great places to put your resume. You have to understand that you will be getting calls for a year or two if you put your resume on the internet.

How long will it take?

Executives often look a month for every $10,000 in income they want.  If they are earning $120,000 then they may search for a year.  Technical experts are often either hired within days of their search beginning, or they take 12 months and then get 3 job offers at once.  Why?  They may have critical skills, but there is no job until someone else quits or a project starts. Then openings pop up as a mass of people all change jobs at once.

Your job search will be over much more quickly if you will commute a long distance or relocate.

The modern steam locomotive can cross the plains at the lightning speed of 15 mile per hour.  The only thing faster is a telegraph. (circa 1870)

Let’s get serious about money.  Are you overpaid?  Do you have golden handcuffs that will keep you from leaving?  Then you may never find another job without taking a pay cut.  If you are underpaid, you’ll get a new job quickly.  That’s just a fact.

How fast will you get a new job?  No one knows.  So it is probably best to start looking while you are still employed.

Again, here is the first step to finding out how fast you can find a job.

Don’t just ask your network to help you find a job.  Ask people how long it took for folks they know to find a job.  Search for stories of quick searches and also ask for horror stories.

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Next:      Daydream

Audible

Down by 20 at halftime

Feel the fear, and¼

Signs you will be laid off or fired

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Posted in Finding jobs, Perseverance, Quitting or Fired

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Free career intelligence 5 ways

Posted on November 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

Here are 5 ways to get free career intelligence.  This can help you find and land a job.

1. Every day I give away useful business intelligence.  I am an expert in a few job markets. I’m a recruiter. Every time you talk to a recruiter, grill them.  If a recruiter calls you out of the blue, you have a right to be very nosey.

2. HR (human resources) people give away business intelligence.  They are experts in their company and will tell you how you fit in.  If you ask they will often tell you where you stand in the job competition. Hiring projection for 3 to 6 months into the future are often on the tip of their tongues if you just ask them.

3. Salespeople are incredible sources of information.  They also like to talk a lot.  Take a salesman from your own company, a supplier, or a place you want to work, out to lunch. Or just talk to them. You’ll find out more than you would think possible.  Often they can tell you about all the competing companies in your area.

4. The web. Indeed.   Monster.  CareerBuilder.  Look for “trolling” job ads.  What ads are there for months?  Often they are renewed weekly, but they are the same ad forever.  Those are jobs that constantly need people.  Sort by company and look for ad clusters.  Is a company creating a new project team?  Often they advertise for 3 different jobs while they have other unadvertised openings for the team that will be created. The manager job may be unfilled.  Or another team has an opening because the manager for this team came out of that team.  Keep all the possibilities in mind.

5. Every industry has a trade magazine or ten.  Subscribe.  Many are free.  There are even more industry trade publications appearing as email magazines.  There are specific trade publications for cement, computer banking systems, turkey processing, pizza shops, jewelry making, dog kennels, dairy farmers and more.  Even if you just read the cover you will be better off than if you didn’t get the magazines.

Open your eyes.  Look around.  Where do the experts go to become experts or to show off their expertise?  That’s where you need to go to get career intelligence.

Something to do today

Subscribe to 3 trade publications.

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Posted in Economy, Finding jobs, Job Boards, Recruiters

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The 2 biggest internet job site scams

Posted on January 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

A banking jobs website salesman called my partner one day.  They have the best, the greatest, the most useful banking jobs website ever.  They want us to have all of our candidates put their resumes up on their website.  Then any employer can pay a fee, find the resumes, and hire the candidates.  There are a whopping 175 resumes in the database. It is useless for anyone to go there.  Don’t waste your time putting your resume on that website.

1.

Wasting your time online is the biggest internet job site scam. Many sites sell hope, and not results, ever.

Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams.  (Mary Ellen Kelly)

You need to talk to people.  Your resume only has one job, to get you an interview.  If you can call up a company and talk to a real person who might tell you to come in for an interview, that’s the best use of your time.

2.

One other job site scam is the high fee “We’ll help you find a job” website.  I have nothing against legitimate resume preparation companies.  Someone who helps you prepare for interviews for a fee is fine.  Resume rabbit will post your resume on 75 websites for a small fee.  Companies that send your resume to 10,000 companies do a service, even if it is mostly useless.  The problem is with companies that will charge you $5,000 or $20,000 for those services.  Sorry, that’s where I draw the line.  So, let me give you some guidelines on top fees you should pay.  Paying a fraction of these fees for great service is common. This is the MOST you should pay, ever.

  • Resume preparation:   $800
  • Resume posting to jobsites $150
  • Interview coaching: $150 per hour
  • Mass resume blasts to employers: a few hundred dollars

Consider the internet a helper in your job search.  Your goal is to talk to people who can hire you.  You can’t do that on the internet yet.

Something to do today

Call a potential employer or recruiter today.  Talk to someone.

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Later:               Should relocation be an option?

What a spouse is good for

Job hunting on the job

Salt in the wound

Eagles don’t flock?

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Posted in Finding jobs, Focus, Resumes, Training

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How to get a friend a job

Posted on June 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

A friend is someone who will help you move.  A real friend is someone who will help you move a body. (unkn)

How to get a friend a job

This programmer didn’t have any experience using the language and tools the company software was developed in.  He hadn’t programmed in 2 years.  He was, however, one of the best programmers I have ever met. He got himself hired without an interview.

First he put together a great resume showing his experience and accomplishments. He had a friend working at the small company.  His friend took the resume into the company owner and put it on his desk.  He said, “This guy is better than me.  You should hire him.  You should also pay him more than me. He’s really good.”  The boss called the programmer up and said, “Come in at noon tomorrow and walk around the place.  If you like it, you can start work at 12:03.   We’ll give you a week to prove you know what you are doing and then adjust your pay accordingly.”

Just so you know, for backup he had a glowing letter of recommendation from his former employer.  He never got to use it.

If you absolutely believe in your friend that is how to get him a job where you work. Only do it this way if you absolutely believe the guy is the best person available, that he is extraordinary.  Your boss will appreciate the help.

Something To Do Today

If you want to be the guy getting the job, you have to be way above average and have a dynamite resume.  Work on both.  Just for luck, also get that glowing letter of recommendation.

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Tomorrow:     A fair non-compete

Later:              Sand in the gears

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Posted in Finding jobs, Networking, Resumes

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8 critical hints on using recruiters to find you a job

Posted on May 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

Scarier than the undertaker, we are meeting our matchmaker. (“Mulan”)

Recruiters are slightly neurotic, money driven, and a little paranoid. To get a recruiter to do the most possible for you, work with them within their limitations.

  1. Never pledge your undying love unless they are willing to give you weekly progress reports.  A recruiter should be willing to tell you all the places your credentials are presented if he asks you to stop looking for a job yourself.
  2. Only use recruiters you trust.  If you feel good talking to a recruiter, you can probably trust them.  If you get an uneasy feeling, if you think they are hiding something from you, run away.  More than half of recruiters are honest.  Find one who has ethics.
  3. Only tell a recruiter the names of companies you are already applying at if you really trust them.  Then get them to promise not to submit other candidates unless they are already working on that job.  You don’t want them to flood that opening with candidates and make it harder for you to get a job.
  4. Use a recruiter who has a history of placing people in the job you want.  Ask the recruiter how many people he has placed in your job in the last year.  If the answer is “None, but I’m trying hard.”, then let him try.  However, you need to keep looking as if he will never do anything for you.
  5. Be honest about the other jobs you are applying for.  Don’t try to figure out if going on other interviews will help your candidacy or not.  If the recruiter asks, tell the truth.  One whiff of a lie and the paranoid recruiter stops being open with you.  Honesty begets honesty.
  6. Every week or two call the recruiters you respect and who regularly place people in the job you want.  Many recruiters forget you after talking to 200 people in a week.  Remind the ones who can really help you that you still need a job.
  7. Don’t use a recruiter where you have a better contact, unless the recruiter told you about the job first.  If you already know about an opening in a company and know the hiring manager yourself, don’t use a recruiter.  Submit yourself.  If the recruiter first told you about the job, let him submit you or he will stop telling you about new jobs.
  8. Reread number one. Don’t give your whole job search over to one recruiter unless he proves he is doing great things to find you a job.

Recruiters combine a love of helping people and making money.If they can help you and make money doing it, they will.   They talk to at least 100 new people every week.  You have to be sure you know how high you stand in their priority list, and how hard they will work for you. Use recruiters wisely.

Something To Do Today

Make a list of all the recruiters you talk to.  Make notes about whether you trust them and how often they have placed people in the job you are looking for.  That list will help you to know who to concentrate on working with.

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Tomorrow:     Get famous, get a job

Later:              Sneaky no good cops set a trap for me

Katrina, FEMA and who’s in charge of you

A surprisingly great trumpet appeared

Brass knuckles and the law

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Posted in Finding jobs, Recruiters

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How to motivate your friends to help you find a great job

Posted on March 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with enthusiasm.  (Winston Churchill)

Would you recommend someone for a job if you were sure they would fail miserably?

Do you want to work with someone who is unable to deal with problems?

No one else does either.

On the other hand, it is fun working with someone who is trying to learn, who goes the extra mile on the job, and who wants to do what they have studied.

If you are excited by your possibilities, your friends will be also. That’s how you motivate your friends, be excited.  For example:

We place a lot of programmers in new jobs.  The ones who are so excited that they create programs in their spare time always find jobs.  It doesn’t matter if they ever went to college.  Their enthusiasm gets them jobs. They love programming.  Employers love them. Everyone who knows them is going to bat for them.  People they don’t know call them up to see if they can help them find a job.  Their enthusiasm is contagious.

On the other hand are programmers who took courses in programming in college.  They passed their courses. Programming doesn’t excite them. It’s just a job. If their college degree can’t get them a job in programming, they’ll never look at a computer again.  For them there is nothing exciting.  Their friends and contacts hear them complaining about the jobs they supposedly turned down.  There is no way they are going to get a strong recommendation for a job.  Sure enough, the job market stinks for them.

Motivate your friends.  Find out what is exciting about the jobs you are applying for.  Do the job for free for a charity.  If you are a computer technician, go looking for broken computers and tear them apart.  Put together a network in your basement. Offer to teach at your library or a nursing home.  Salesperson? Do what my partner did, became a charity “hit woman”.  Get the job of calling on businesses for donations.  You will talk to a lot of leaders of industry.  And guess what?  If you do a good job, they’ll be impressed.  Your friends, family and acquaintances will see what you are doing.  They’ll tell other people.

Be excited.  Do your job for free because you love it. Help others and demonstrate your love of your desired job.  You will motivate your friends and mere acquaintances to help you.

Something To Do Today  

Really evaluate how you have been acting.  Are you a member of the “beef and whine club”?   Find something you enjoy doing that is related to the job you want.  Do it with enthusiasm for free.

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Networking, Perseverance, References, talent

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How to find a job at a convention – company trip

Posted on January 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

Between two products equal in price, function and quality, the better looking will out sell the other.  (Loewy) 

Two booths of software were side by side.  One was superior technically.  The other had a salesman who was a whiz.  People were crowding around the great salesman.  The technically superior product kept losing crowds to that other salesman.  Finally the president of the losing company decided to try and eliminate the problem.  He offered a substantial raise, relocation package and perks to the salesman who was beating him. I talked to that salesman later.  It was a great moment in his career.

As a programmer, brick layer or CEO the best way to look for a job at a convention is to be the best salesman for your company. That means helping everyone you can.  Get their cards.  Get a card for you and one for your company. During your free time go to as many booths as you can and get cards from other people. 

If you are serious about getting a new job, you will find an “inside contact” at every company whose booth you visit.  You don’t have to talk “jobs” with them at the convention.  What makes this even sweeter is that many of those people will come to your booth and initiate the contact.

After the convention volunteer to help the sales force out.  Contact all the people you met while at your booth.  Give them the company line your salespeople want them to hear.  Keep notes about every contact you make. 

Still serious about your job search?  Sort the cards out into three piles:

  1. I’d love to work there.  
  2. I’d consider working there.  
  3. I’d never work there.

Don’t throw any of them out.  Tomorrow when I talk about what to do with each pile, you’ll see why you even want to contact people at places you would never work.  

Something To Do Today

If you are serious about finding a new job, conventions are great.  They are also a LOT of work.  Decide how much time you are really interested in spending on that job search.

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Posted in Finding jobs

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